Happier Made Simple™ Blog
Choose Your Words. Change Your Life.
Welcome to Happier Made Simple™: Choose Your Words. Change Your Life.
This community is for you if you want to Live Happier- Every Day , taking small, immediate steps.
Don’t miss Randye’s New Book,
Happer Made Simple™: Choose Your Words. Change Your Life. Now Available!
Looking for Likes Closer to Home
Note how much emotional energy you are spending looking for love on social media. Channel that energy more often to the people right in front of you. Even (or maybe especially) on your birthday.
Dear Grandma (or Grandpa), Tell Me About Your Life
You were born in Ukraine, the third of eight children. Married at 19.
You gave birth to your first child in the middle of unrest and violence: pogroms and attacks against your “Hebrew” (according to ship manifest info) people.
Your husband Harry became a refugee to America when your son, Morris. was just a toddler. That was the plan, as only one of you could afford to escape at a time,
What did you witness and experience while you waited to escape too?
How did you do it?
Happier: The Authentic and Resilient Foundation for Success
John Jaramillo and I had so much fun sharing ideas, that this Book Leads podcast/show went way over the hour! Hope you enjoy listening as much as we loved chatting about leadership, books, setting and reaching goals but with a solid foundation of what really matters in the big picture of your life:
Recommended Book : The Change Guidebook, by Elizabeth Hamilton Guarino
Change is part of life – both in reaction to life, and by proactively creating the change.
Elizabeth Hamilton Guarino’s new book, The Change Guidebook, will help you do the latter.
Happier Made Simple™ is an Audiobook Too!
If you've been hoping to hear Happier Made Simple "read by the author", you've got your wish! Soon it will be on Audible, but in the meantime you can get it through Kobo/Walmart or Chirp!
here is a sample:
Happier, Not Happiness. Why? Setting the Record Straight
“Randye, I really hesitated bringing up the topic of happiness tonight, because of your book. I don’t want to negate your message.”
Those words, from the leader of our Mussar study group (I’ll explain later) last night.
I so appreciate her concern, but immediately move to set the record straight.
"I Appreciate You": Does Enduring Love Require Gratitude?
“Without gratitude, love cannot endure.”
This quote stood out to me in the required reading for an adult learning class on Mussar ” a traditional Jewish path of spiritual development that leads to awareness, wisdom, and transformation.” That week’s topic? Gratitude, which happens to be a vital element in Core Phrase #4 in Happier Made Simple‘s chapter about Appreciation.
It Is What It Is: How Accepting Reality Leads to Happier
Core Phrase #2: It Is What It Is.
If this sounds familiar, it’s because (a) I did not make up the phrase – it’s widely used, and (b) the Reality concept here is also about something we also hear a lot about: Acceptance.
Whenever I find myself spinning my wheels about "why me?" and "this shouldn't be this way"...I realize I'm doing just that...spinning my wheels, and with absolutely no traction. In mud. Or snow.
Happier Made Simple: The Book, Some Listening, and You
What is Happier Made Simple really all about?
It's about little changes that can make a big difference.
Like: the words we use when we talk to ourselves, and to others.
Like: trying some actions even before they feel like second nature- and noticing what happens.
Like: taking small, consistent steps until you reach your goals.
Aging Proudly: 5 Ways to Fight Back Against "Age-Defying"
68. And a half. That's my age number, and I'm proud of it.
Or at least I'm working on it. Constantly.
My little grandkids will announce my age number loud and proud to anyone in line at Stop and Shop - so why does part of me cringe when they do?
Processing Time: Why Happier Does Not Mean Constantly Happy
I had a day on Sunday. You know, where I just couldn't shake my sadness the way I usually can.
Ever have one of those? (If you say no, then you may want to check your pulse.)
As a "happier" writer, and the person people seem to seek out when they want a more optimistic perspective, it isn't easy to fall into the occasional hole of a less-than-stellar mood.
Hello Again, Stranger!: Tiptoeing Back Into Small Encounters
How I've missed you, person I meet by accident. We've been in our caves, zooming away, and hiding behind our masks for too long.
April's Word: Complete. How Did it Go?
Well…is anything ever really complete? (*sighs* started with a disclaimer…no-judgment zone)
As you may be aware, this year I opted out of New Year’s Resolutions (okay, opted out again) and chose instead a try-and-see approach simply by choosing a word for each month, no pressure, and seeing what might happen.
Unmoored: What To Do if Life Goes Adrift
I'm not a huge interpreter of dreams, but last night's was a doozy. My home was about to fall into a sinkhole. ( What ?!?! )
So I had to climb onto the roof, leaving behind all I had worked so hard to create. Carefully chosen wallpaper, brownies baking in the oven - all abandoned; I climbed up, nearer to the sky (with a friend, identity unknown) as the house drifted into the water (I guess I had scored a waterfront property in this dream, wahoo) - destination entirely unknown. No map. Just safety from disaster, and no choice but to trust that we would land somewhere. Somehow. And eventually we did land - on an island where my family was among others waiting to share this new experience.
Art: Creating for the Non-Artist
Word of the month for March:
Art.
Why?
Because I'm not an artist - at least, not a visual one.
Why do it, then?
What’s in a Word? Turns Out, a Whole Lot.
Screw New Year’s Resolutions. Especially this year, unless the resolution is to just, well, stay alive. (Stupid Covid.) I can’t remember the last time I made a resolution, anyway, since my higher self knows they only make it until mid-January at best. Then it’s another whole 11½ months of Oreos buttered popcorn, and guilt until we “resolve” again.
Dear Evi: Wishing You Simple Childhood Joys
Dearest grandbaby Eviana -
New Year's Eve Day has forever gained a new meaning, leaving things like resolutions in the dust of a much more important focus: your birthday.
This year, you will be one whole year old on December 31, and you've already changed the world. Well - ours, at least. Your joy, your love, your needs, your snarky sense of fun and play...what an amazing person you already are!
#TrumpPanic? Five Reasons to Choose Hope Instead
I am not a Pollyanna.
Well, maybe a little bit.
But, two days after the Election, I'm tired of feeling my stomach in knots over something I can no longer control. I'm tired of anger. And I'm sick of literally losing sleep over the reality of Donald Trump as President.
Five Good Things When You Take a Facebook Break
For the past couple of years, I have begun the fall season by quitting Facebook - cold turkey – for ten days. This year, I liked the results so much that I haven’t gone back yet, except to check notifications for only a minute or so. I swear. So far, I have hardly clicked “like”, and (gasp!) haven’t even read my birthday messages that came in during the dry spell.
The Five Phrases to Ignore, for a Happier Life
Advertising is everywhere. Every day we're bombarded by images and words that suggest - gently or insistently - that our lives suck. Or we suck. Or at least, that things could be a lot better, and why the heck are we sitting around just enjoying the day?